of two universities when one would be
equally efficient. The scheme will be readily accepted by the
Presbyterians as well as by the Catholics, which would not be the case
with a reconstituted Royal University, and it is the only solution of
the question which will bring the young men of different creeds in the
country together at an impressionable age when friendships are formed
which may serve to break down the barrier between creeds.

The objection of Trinity College to the inclusion on the roll of the
University under the new conditions of the present M.A.s of the Royal
University is scarcely consistent with its recent action in admitting to
_ad eundem_ degrees women who have passed the final degree examinations
at Oxford and Cambridge, and if the objection to the proposal is based
on the change in political complexion which the electoral roll of the
University would undergo, the answer is that University representation
is an anomaly which in any circumstances is not likely to continue for
many years more in the case, not merely of Dublin, but of the other
universities of the three kingdoms.

* * * * *

Since the foregoing chapter was written the Provost of Trinity has
announced to a meeting of Graduates of the College that he has received
assurances from the Chief Secretary that in the forthcoming Bill the
University of Dublin will be left untouched. I have said enough to show
that Irish Nationalist opinion has not been committed to the Bryce
scheme to the exclusion of every other solution, but it is to be
regretted, in the interests of education, that the proposal which the
majority of Irishmen regarded as the solution nearest approaching the
ideal should have been launched by the Government merely as a _ballon
d'essai_, to be withdrawn at the first breath of opposition, and to be
replaced by what, at the best, can only prove to be a less hopeful
compromise. One guarantee of a speedy solution the country at any rate
holds--namely, that the Government is pledged to introduce legislation
next session, and that the Chief Secretary has bound himself to stand or
fall by the fate of the Bill.

CHAPTER VII

UNIONISM IN IRELAND

"When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only
effect it produces upon me is to convince me that he is an
unalterable fool. There are always a set of worthy and
moderately gifted men who bawl out death and ruin upon every